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Google Flights Poses Threat To Other Travel Sites

MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF) – One of Google's newest features is causing major concerns among travel sites across the Internet.

Google Flights allows users to search for the lowest airline fares. It shows a list of flights with the lowest fares and links to book tickets with those airlines.

The fare finder, which was unveiled earlier this month, appears above search results for travel sites like Travelocity and Expedia, which are now concerned that the search giant could be siphoning off some of their business.

KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:

KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid said that in more and more cases, Google is getting involved in industries that go way beyond just a simple search.

"Google is very good about driving people to the websites that answer questions," he said. "But now Google is answering the questions directly, which bypass those very websites. So it is definitely going to upset a lot of web operators, in this case, the travel sites."

The Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating Google's trade practices.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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